On 6 July, Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger took a further step in their desire to leave Ecowas, following their initial announcement in January.

With great fanfare, the three countries launched the Confederation « Alliance of Sahel States » through the Niamey Declaration. The three coup leaders are continuing their attitude of defiance towards the West African regional economic community. It cannot be otherwise when power has been seized by force of arms in defiance of community rules, with a determination to remain in power despite common sense, past commitments and the logic of the region’s history.

Tiani, Goïta and Traoré broke the constitutional order in their country in the name of sovereignty, of taking control of the security apparatus in the face of threats from armed terrorist groups and of the supposed inaction of democratically elected presidents. Since then, none of their promises have been kept, despite all the bravado and publicity.

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Goïta, Tiani and Traoré couldn’t care less about the fate of their country; the tragedy their fellow citizens are going through leaves them unmoved. They are not motivated by any spirit of patriotism or any progressive desire to break with the corruption, embezzlement and poor governance for which previous regimes have been blamed. In Burkina Faso, Ibrahim Traoré, who paints himself as Sankara, has not an ounce of progressive flame to emancipate the most vulnerable populations, young people and women in particular. He has arrogated to himself an additional period in power. In Mali, Assimi Goïta is imprisoning opponents, dissolving political parties and associations and showing no inclination to put an end to the transition that has lasted since 2021.

Under Tiani, Niger is unable to contain the threat from the various militias in the country. The coup authorities are holding President Bazoum hostage in scandalous and unacceptable conditions.

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Massacres by armed gangs continue in the Aes countries despite the Russian umbrella. Sometimes these murderous raids are even carried out by soldiers in the company of mercenaries affiliated to the Wagner group. The armies, which had promised to come to the aid of suffering citizens, sometimes resort to unconcealed ethnic cleansing aimed at a particular category of the population. The economies of Aes members are in great difficulty as a result of the sanctions imposed by regional bodies, but above all because of the inability of these soldiers to govern.  Despite the chaotic situation in the three countries, the quarteron of coup plotters are flexing their muscles, blowing on the embers of anti-France, delegitimising the institutions in order to stay in power, without denying the chaos. They are ready to rule over ruins if they can enjoy the gilded panelling of palaces, far from the front line where soldiers left to their own devices, without weapons, ammunition or training, are falling victim to terrorist bullets.

Leaving Ecowas is a crude manoeuvre by people obsessed with staying in power while remaining unaccountable. They systematically violate human rights, further impoverish already ailing economies, close their countries to the world, and express brutality and irresponsibility on a daily basis.

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The AES, which claims to be a recourse against Ecowas, which is considered to be under the tutelage of France – which is an untruth – is nothing but a crude farce by people driven solely by the desire to enjoy power by exploiting the precariousness and desire for hope of young people. Moreover, what is still keeping them in military fatigues, eminent democrats mandated by the electorate, in the Uemoa area? It seems to me that it is this organisation that governs the currency that is the object of fantasies and accusations of subservience to France by so many populists and demagogues in Africa and its Diaspora.

But the Third Worldist refrain, relayed by a powerful apparatus on the Internet and in the media, will not always hold up in the face of the real emergencies facing the people of Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger. At a time when the junta leaders are setting up the AES, these people are faced with the concerns of daily survival: water, food, electricity, security, etc. The young human rights activist from Mali, Fatouma Harber, summed up this tragic farce of the AES with this amusingly apt phrase: « 24 hours without electricity. Yes, I know we’re sovereign now!

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These illegitimate regimes, members of the Aes, like all autocracies, live off the rent of fear and manipulation. They will also continue to brandish the foreign conspiracy, the internal enemy and sabotage to maintain themselves in power while failing to solve the problems of their fellow citizens. They are going to wear the reductive and anachronistic thread of nationalism and shoddy sovereigntism to the bitter end. Considering the lives at stake, the whole thing is a tragic farce.

By Hamidou ANNE / hamidou.anne@lequotidien.sn

  • Translation by Ndey T. SOSSEH / Serigne S. DIAGNE